Men who suffered from lifelong premature ejaculation can be treated by pelvic floor exercises over a 12-week period.

Study leader Dr. Antonio Pastore of the Sapienza University of Rome said the study involved a group of 40 men ages 19 to 46 who had premature ejaculation — defined as “ejaculation within a minute," who had tried a variety of therapies, without any significant improvement.

During the 12-week study period, the men were trained to exercise their pelvic floor muscles and their time-to-orgasm was measured.

The study, presented at the European Congress of Urology in Stockholm, found at the start of the trial the average ejaculation time was 31.7 seconds, but by the end of the 12-weeks of pelvic floor exercises this had risen to 146.2 seconds — a more than four-fold increase.

“This is a small study, so the effects need to be verified in a bigger trial. Nevertheless, the results are very positive. The rehabilitation exercises are easy to perform, with no reported adverse effects," Pastore said in a statement.

"Previously the men in the trial had tried a variety of treatments, including creams, behavioral therapy, antidepressants and psychological treatments — with little success. However, we found that 33 of the 40 men in our trial improved their ejaculation time within 12 weeks. We also found that the fact that the men were able to improve their sex-lives through their own efforts helped their self-confidence."